Study

Some heroes don’t like to lane during the early game, instead taking to the jungle where the neutral creeps dwell. Junglers can take advantage of this as long as they can fight the creeps there effectively and efficiently. Some heroes have natural lifesteal to offset the damage they will take, other heroes spawn minions to tank the damage and some just take control of the neutral creeps all together.

The most important thing for jungling is knowing a route between camps, picking the right starting items and abilities, then using your positioning near lanes effectively for ganks. It’s a role that varies wildly in effectiveness between patches, so sometimes it may not be a viable option but equally you could be your team’s all-star.

If fancy magic isn’t your style, then maybe our good friend Axe might be more suitable. An orc who likes his trusty weapon so much, he named himself after it. In the jungle, Counter Helix is key to your success. It causes you to spin around, flailing your big axe whenever you’re attacked, but has a small chance to proc. With four neutral creeps on you at once, it’s still a big damage boost.

Berserker’s Call is an AoE taunt that’s useful in the late-game for keeping enemy attacks off your squishier friends, but also gives bonus armour for surviving against a jungle camp or wave of creeps. Use it sparingly as Axe’s mana is at a premium throughout the game and it’s rare that he’ll get many items that improve it.

Battle Hunger is another drain on that, but a worthy one. It puts a long-lasting and damaging debuff on a target that also slows their movement speed while buffing Axe’s. The catch is that it disappears as soon as that enemy kills a unit. A great ability for learning proper timing, it’s deadly by itself on an opponent caught on the retreat.

His ultimate, Culling Blade, will instantly kill an enemy unit if their health is below a certain threshold. Once you cast it successfully, you will be treated to one of the most satisfying animations Dota 2 has to offer, as you split your enemy right down the middle. Successful one-shots also grant you and all nearby teammates a huge buff to attack and movement speed.

The biggest zombie on the battlefield, Lifestealer aka N’aix is a self-healing, damage-machine with his own in-built immunity to magic and everything else he needs to survive and thrive. Plus a complex, tactical ultimate that can be upgraded to new heights.

Perhaps Lifestealer’s most important abilities are Feast and Open Wounds. The former is a passive that heals him for a percentage of his total HP with every attack, while damaging enemies for a percentage of theirs. The latter slows a target and causes half of all damage dealt to them to lifesteal. It’s a one-two punch that keeps Lifestealer alive and quickly drops enemies, no matter their tankiness.

Meanwhile Rage is his tool for being useful in the late game, and why he is viable in the carry role, even coming out of the jungle. It makes him completely immune to Magic - both magic damage and any spells - for a short duration and gives him an attack speed boost. Relentless is the word you’re looking for.

His ultimate is … well it’s just weird, really. Infest allows you to implant yourself into any non-hero enemy or any ally, then explode out for damage at any time. Opponents can’t detect you during this and you’ll be healed for the health value of whatever you burst out of if it’s an enemy, killing it in the process. You can also control their movements, letting you use their abilities and set up imaginative and surprising ganks. It’s a tool for experimentation that will teach you the incredible flexibility of Dota.

Bear-man extraordinaire, Ursa is without a doubt the best right-clicker in the business. Three of his skills are based purely around doing so, to the point where it’s technically possible if not competitively plausible for him to solo big bad Roshan at level 1.

The central pillar of this is Fury Swipes, a passive ability that causes successive attacks to deal ever more damage the more often you get to hit the same target. Against opponents who don’t run away - like jungle creeps and the lovely Aegis-holder himself - it’s a quick death-dealer and gives him the quick clear needed to jungle effectively. Equally, any lifesteal he has from items gets to trigger off this damage, meaning he can sustain combat for a long time.

Overpower combos with this very effectively, maximising his attack speed for a few hits, letting him build up stacks and damage quickly. This also makes any additional effects on his attacks even more effective, along with scaling very well with any additional damage he manages to pick up. This can even come from his ultimate, a four second combat steroid called Enrage which decreases the amount of damage he takes by 80% while multiplying his Fury Swipes bonus. This is key to taking Roshan a little more effectively solo, but also in team-fights.

Earthshock ties it all together. It’s an AoE damage and slow around him that makes enemies unable to escape as well as providing a little more multi-target clear for jungling. It’s your opener for ganking and a vital tool for doing what Ursa’s all about - killing unsuspecting heroes. If that’s your bag, grab a Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger early and go to town.